A Seminar on

KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY

SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1
BY

GOUTHAM PRASAD.R
4VV12ME025
Under the guidance of

Mr.Amruth.E
B.E.,M.Tech,MISTE

Assistant professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysuru

KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

CONTENTS

KERS- INTRODUCTION
BASIC ELEMENTS
WORKING PRINCIPLE
TYPES OF KERS
ELECTRICAL KERS
MECHANICAL KERS
KERS IN FORMULA ONE
CONCLUSION

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

KERS INTRODUCTION

KERS is a collection of parts which takes

some of the kinetic energy of a vehicle
under deceleration, stores this energy
and then releases this stored energy back
into the drive train of the vehicle,
providing a power boost to that vehicle.

For the driver, it is like having two power

sources at his disposal, one of the power
sources is the engine while the other is
the stored kinetic energy.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

WHAT IS KERS?

The acronym KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery

System.

Kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) store energy when

the vehicle is braking and return it when accelerating.

During braking, energy is wasted because kinetic energy is

mostly converted into heat energy or sometimes sound
energy that is dissipated into the environment.

Vehicles with KERS are able to harness some of this kinetic

energy and in doing so will assist in braking.

By a touch of a button, this stored energy is converted back

into kinetic energy giving the vehicle extra boost of power.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

BASIC ELEMENTS OF KERS

First, a way to store and then return

energy to the power train and
Second, a place to store this energy.
In essence a KERS systems is
simple, you need a component for
generating the power, one for
storing it and another to control it
all. Thus KERS systems have three
main components: The MGU, the
PCU and the batteries/flywheel.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

MGU (MOTOR/GENERATOR UNIT)

While a motor-generator set may consist of distinct

motor and generator machines coupled together, a
single unitmotor-generatorwill have both rotor coils
of the motor and the generator wound around a
single rotor, and both coils share the same outer field
coils or magnets Working in two modes, the MGU
both creates the power for the batteries when the
car is braking, then return the power from the
batteries to add power directly to the engine, when
the KERS
button isENGINEERING,VVCE,MYSURU
deployed.
DEPARTMENT
OF MECHANICAL

KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

PCU (Power Control Unit)

It serves two purposes, firstly to invert &

control the switching of current from the
batteries to the MGU and secondly to
monitor the status of the individual cells
with the battery. Managing the battery is
critical as the efficiency of a pack of Liion cells will drop if one cell starts to fail.
A failing cell can overheat rapidly and
cause safety issues. As with all KERS
components the PCU needs cooling.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

WORKING PRINCIPLE

Basically, its working principle involves storing the energy

involved with deceleration and using it for acceleration. That is,
when a car breaks, it dissipates a lot of kinetic energy as heat.
The KERS tries to store this energy and converts this into
power, that can be used to boost acceleration.

A standard KERS operates by a charge cycle and a boost

cycle. As the car slows for a corner, an actuator unit captures
the waste kinetic energy from the rear brakes. This collected
kinetic energy is then passed to a Central Processing Unit (CPU)
and onto the storage unit. The storage unit are positioned
centrally to minimize the impact on the balance of the car.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

TYPES OF KERS

There are two basic types of KERS systems:

Electrical
Mechanical

The main difference between them is in the way

they convert the energy and how that energy is
stored within the vehicle.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

ELECTRICAL KERS

In electrical KERS, braking rotational force is captured by an

electric motor / generator unit (MGU) mounted to the engines
crankshaft.

This MGU takes the electrical energy that it converts from

kinetic energy and stores it in batteries. The boost button then
summons the electrical energy in the batteries to power the
MGU.

The most difficult part in designing electrical KERS is how to

store the electrical energy. Most racing systems use a lithium
battery, which is essentially a large mobile phone battery.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

Batteries become hot when charging them so

many of the KERS cars have more cooling ducts
since charging
will
occur multiple times
throughout a race.

Super-capacitors can also be used to store

electrical energy instead of batteries; they run
cooler and are debatably more efficient.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

WORKING PRINCIPLE

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

MECHANICAL KERS
The concept of transferring the vehicles kinetic energy usingflywheel
energy storagewas postulated by physicistRichard Feynmanin the 1950.
The mechanical KERS system has a flywheel as the energy storage device
and it does away with MGUs by replacing them with a transmission to
control and transfer the energy to and from the driveline.
The kinetic energy of the vehicle ends up as kinetic energy of a rotating
flywheel through the use of shafts and gears.
Unlike electrical KERS, this method of storage prevents the need to
transform energy from one type to another. Each energy conversion in
electrical KERS brings its own losses and the overall efficiency is poor
compared to mechanical storage.
To cope with the continuous change in speed ratio between the flywheel
and road-wheels, a continuously variable transmission (CVT) is used,
which is managed by an electro-hydraulic control system. A clutch allows
disengagement of the device when not in use.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

MECHANICAL KERS contd.

Braking at the wheels dissipates the kinetic energy of the vehicle
that is therefore completely lost. Conversely, KERS may store the
kinetic energy of the vehicle during braking and return it under
acceleration.
The system utilizes a flywheel as the energy storage device and a
Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) to transfer energy to and
from the driveline to the rotating flywheel.
The transfer of the vehicle kinetic energy to the flywheel kinetic
energy reduces the speed of the vehicle and increases the speed of
the flywheel. The transfer of the flywheel kinetic energy to the
vehicle kinetic energy reduces the speed of the flywheel and
increases the speed of the vehicle.
The CVT is used because the ratios of vehicle and flywheel speed
are different during a braking or an acceleration event can change
steplessly through an infinite number of effectivegear ratios
between maximum and minimum values. This contrasts with other
mechanical transmissions that offer a fixed number of gear ratios.
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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

ADVANTANGE OF MECHANICAL KERS

OVER ELECTRICAL KERS

Battery-based electric hybrid systems require

a number of energy conversions each with
corresponding
efficiency
losses.
On
reapplication of the energy to the driveline,
the global energy conversion efficiency is 31
34%. The mechanical hybrid system storing
energy mechanically in a rotating fly wheel
eliminates the various energy conversions
and provides a global energy conversion
efficiency exceeding 70%, more than twice
the efficiency of an electric system.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

ADVANTAGES OF KERS
This potential advantages and features of this technology
in the field of automobiles are:

High power capability

Light weight and small size
Long system life of upto 250,000 kms
Completely safe
A truly green solution
High efficiency storage and recovery
Low embedded carbon content
Low cost in volume manufacture

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

KERS IN FORMULA ONE

KERS was introduced by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) with a
view to increase overtaking during Formula One Grand Prix races, as the boost
button provides extra power. In effect, the KERS has also been used to act as a
defensive tool to block a faster car, inhibiting overtaking.
In the 2009 season KERS was not a huge success, the system had a FIA cap on
the amount of energy that could be re-used, only 400kJ could be stored, which
when used for 6.7s per lap, the car gained some 80hp. Thus although a 0.3s
boost to lap times was achieved, the system was ultimately limited in its
potential to improve lap times.
The original CVT based Formula One KERS

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

FEATURES OF KERS IN F1
The original Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) was a
small and light device designed to meet the FIA regulations for
the 2009 Formula One season.
The key system features were:
Aflywheel made of steel and carbon fibre that rotated at over
60,000 RPM inside an evacuated chamber
The flywheel casing featured containment to avoid the escape
of any debris in the unlikely event of a flywheel failure
The flywheel was connected to the transmission of the car on
the output side of the gearboxvia several fixed ratios, a clutch
and a Continuously Variable Transmission
60 kW power transmission in either storage or recovery
400 kJ of usable storage (after accounting for internal losses)
A total system weight of 25 kg
A total packaging
volume
of 13 litres
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OF MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING,VVCE,MYSURU

KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

FLYWHEEL HYBRID CARS

A consortium led by a Jaguar Land Rover is developing a

flywheel-hybrid system that it says boosts performance
by 60 kilowatts (about 80 horsepower) while improving
fuel efficiency 20 percent. Jaguar is testing its purely
mechanical flywheel system, which reportedly weighs
143 pounds, in an prototype XF sedan.
At the 2011North American International Auto Show
Porsche unveiled a RSR variant of their Porsche 918
concept car which uses a flywheel-based KERS system
that sits beside the driver in the passenger compartment
and boosts the dual electric motors driving the front
wheels and the 565 BHP V8 gasoline engine driving the
rear to a combined power output of 767 BHP.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

CONCLUSION

Its a technology for the present and the future

because its environment-friendly, reduces emissions,
has a low production cost, increases efficiency and is
highly customizable and modifiable. Adoption of a
KERS may permit regenerative braking and engine
downsizing as a means of improving efficiency and
hence reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
The KERS have major areas of development in power
density, life, simplicity, effectiveness and first and
foremost the costs of the device. Applications are
being considered for small, mass-production passenger
cars, as well as luxury cars, buses and trucks.

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

REFERENCE

Wikipedia
autosport.com
saeindia.org
Bottiglione F., Mantriota G.: MG-IVT: an
infinitely variable transmission with
optimal power flows. ASME Journal of
Mechanical Design, Vol. 130, No. 11,
2008.
International Journal of Scientific &
Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 1,
January-2014 1863 ISSN 2229-5518

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KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM IN FORMULA-1

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING,VVCE,MYSURU